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When fire blazed through her mobile home, Tammy Teeters made sure to grab her swimsuit.

About a year ago, fire swept through a neighboring community and destroyed hundreds of homes. I took supplies to a local shelter and met Tammy Teeters, a woman who grew up playing in bombed ruins in Berlin. She sat in a church gymnasium and worried about how the songbirds in her woods would survive. When a blazing ball of fire forced her out of her home, she’d grabbed just a few precious items, including a blue bathing suit.

After writing a story for This Land Press, I worked with videographer Matt Leach on a short film that debuted recently at the deadcenter film festival in Oklahoma City. Film editor Claire Edwards polished it up with her expert editing skills.

If you need a refreshing drink of inspiration, watch how a Mannford, Okla., water aerobics instructor rose from the ashes and found solace from the fire in a clear pool of water.

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Meet me: Sheilah Bright, a sucker for a story.
I've been a journalist for 39 years after first publishing at age 14. Do the math. No, don't. My work has appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines. I spent 18 years writing advertising for People and TIME magazine.
When I'm not traveling abroad, I bounce along the backroads of Oklahoma searching for some golden story nuggets as a contributing editor for This Land Press and Oklahoma Today.